The Paths to Greatness
by RedAuraGuard
Summary: How does Ash feel about losing in every League he's competed in since the start of his journey? Not too good. Despondent and confused, he encounters Cynthia, who decides to take him on as her apprentice. At the same time, five of Ash's friends are about to begin their journeys as Pokémon Trainers. Max, Tory, Molly, Kathryn, and Audrey are all ready to show Kanto what they've got!


_**Chapter 1: The Invitation**_

_**A/N: A few things to say here before we begin.**_

_**#1: I'd like to give a VERY special thank-you to Saiyan-Styles here on Fanfiction for his help with this story. He answered the multitude of questions I had on this story and another one in production (the PM messages total at over 70 so far), and never stopped helping me. Thanks a lot!**_

_**#2: How was everyone's holidays? Did you enjoy yourselves?**_

_**#3: Do you like Iris, Trip, and/or Burgundy? If so, you might want to stay away from the fanfic. Just warning you!**_

_**Enjoy!**_

Frustration; that was the only thing Ash Ketchum could feel at the moment. He scowled as he paced across the waiting room of the Pokemon Center, pulling his hair and resisting the urge to scream in anger.

Ash was a fairly seasoned Trainer; he had traveled across five regions, catching and training many Pokemon and making all sorts of friends. He and his Pokemon enjoyed their time and memories together, giving them all a very solid bond. But if there was one thing that every Conference of the regions he challenged had in common, it was that Ash lost them all. Not once had he ever won any of the tournaments, or even made it to the finals. Despite having teams of ever-loyal Pokemon by his side, there was always that one person in every region to send his progress to a screeching halt. Ritchie, Harrison, Tyson, Tobias, and now Cameron were all rivals who had beaten him. Ash didn't hold a grudge against any of them (with the possible exception of Tobias for his use of Legendaries), but that didn't make the string of losses any easier to bear.

As he looked into the recovery room, Ash saw the exhausted forms of all of his Pokemon. Snivy, Pignite, Leavanny, Oshawott, Unfezant, and even Pikachu… They all fought their very hardest for him against Cameron, but their combined strength wasn't enough to surpass Cameron's team. Come to think of it, all of them (with the exception of Pikachu) were rather inexperienced when it came to actual combat.

Ash almost slapped himself. They weren't the only Pokemon he had; Ash had trained all sorts of powerhouse Pokemon. Infernape, Donphan, and Charizard were just three examples. Any one of them could have easily flattened Trip at any time and made him realize just how good other regions were, but he just left them to waste away in Professor Oak's lab. He held nothing against the Professor- in fact, Ash was beyond grateful that he was willing to look after so many Pokemon- but maybe he should have swapped around his team more. Had he done that, then maybe Unova would have been more fun. Iris was always complaining about him and calling him a kid, even though she was four years younger than him and acted far younger than her age. Her Axew didn't even evolve, and it was a Dragon-type! Pikachu didn't want to evolve and already had power; that was obvious when he beat Brandon's Regice and tied with Tobias' Latios. But that Axew wouldn't even work to become a Haxorus; all it did was ride around in Iris' hair. In hindsight, shouldn't it have gotten mauled by Cynthia's Garchomp? Cilan was alright; he was like Brock without the flirting, even if his evaluations got annoying. It was Cilan's rival Burgundy who was annoying. She didn't appear to understand the concept of actually becoming an A-Class Connoisseur to even try and match Cilan, and she was always screaming at him despite his attempts to be kind. How he didn't snap was far beyond Ash's imagination.

Just thinking of his main Unovan rival gave Ash a painful headache. The arrogant bastard was always mouthing off about other regions, calling them the "boonies" just because he didn't know anything about them! Trip acted as though he knew everything about Pokemon, whether it was training or battling with them. If he lost, he just wrote it off as a fluke and ran away with his tail between his legs! And just because Pikachu had lost all access to electricity from being attacked by freaking _Zekrom, _Trip acted like his victory over Ash meant anything at all!

"Hey, Ash!"

_Please, not now, _Ash groaned mentally. He did not want to deal with Iris' complaints about his battling now. Sure enough, however, she had run up to him and began to criticize him for his performance.

"What were you thinking out there?!" she shouted. "You made so many stupid mistakes out there! Why did you send out Oshawott against that Hydreigon?! It's obvious that Hydreigon would win, because it's a Dragon-type and it resists Water attacks!" Iris failed to notice Ash's boiling rage at her rant and continued talking. "And leaving Pignite out against Samurott?! That's just stupid! On top of that, your Unfezant lost to Riolu, when Unfezant was a Flying-type and had the advantage! You're too much of a kid to even think on the-"

"Would you just shut up for once?!" Ash snapped, unable to take it anymore. "You wouldn't have done half as well as me if our positions were swapped, and you know it! You don't even train your Pokemon; your Axew just rides in your hair, your Emolga annoys everything around it, and the only reason your Dragonite will listen to you is because Cynthia talked to it! So stop putting me down for everything I do!"

Ash didn't even stay put to yell at her in return; instead, he stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind her. He heard her scream, "Don't walk out on me like that! You're such a kid!" and began to run from the Center.

He barely noticed anything as he sprinted away from his female traveling companion; whether it was Cilan's worried look, the stares of the other Trainers in the building, the glances of passerby in the streets, or the blonde woman in his path, Ash just ignored them and kept on running. Unfortunately, it was this last person who was about to cause him to stop suddenly.

"Ouch!" Ash cried as he slammed full-tilt into a tall, statuesque woman and crash backwards into the ground. He groaned and held his head; the impact hurt. "Sorry…"

"It's fine," she said casually. Interestingly, the collision didn't appear to have pushed her back too far. "More importantly, are you okay?"

"Yeah..." Ash's eyes widened with realization as he took a better look at the person he ran into, all pain forgotten. He would never forget that voice, even if he didn't hear it for twenty years. "Is that you, Cynthia?!"

Sure enough, the Sinnoh League Champion stood over the fallen Trainer with her constant serene smile on her face. She was wearing the light blue tank top and black pants she donned during the Junior Cup. Her luscious golden hair fell in a glossy curtain down her back, reaching below her knees. When she looked at Ash's despondent face, her smile fell into a frown of concern.

"Are you okay?" she asked softly.

Ash nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. I should be asking you that."

Cynthia held out a hand, which Ash took, and pulled him up. "That's good to hear, but there's something else bothering you. Am I right? I'm here if you need to talk."

He smiled ruefully. "You see right through me," Ash sighed. The Trainer looked around quickly. "Can we talk somewhere where we won't be disturbed? I really don't want to risk being seen by Iris or Trip…" His voice took on a venomous tone as he spoke the names.

Fortunately, she was more than sympathetic. "Sure thing! Let's go to that ice cream shop over there. I guarantee you'll feel at least a little better after a few scoops. My treat!"

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

"See, isn't that better?"

Ash sighed again, but this time in satisfaction. Cynthia had known exactly what she was talking about; the large ice cream he had ordered had helped cool his anger considerably. Now it no longer raged so angrily; it was just a stinging series of memories. Or the relief might have been the fact that it was Cynthia who had bought him the frozen treat and was sitting in front of him, eating hers… He shook himself mentally, wondering what was coming over him. _No, I won't be like Brock! He's an awesome chef and everything, but there's still the fact that he's a womanizer. It's true…_

"Yeah, thanks!" Ash grinned. "I feel much better now."

"Good!" she said, with a satisfied smile on her face. A moment later, it turned into an expression of concern. "Now then, what's bothering you?"

The Trainer looked into Cynthia's face. Unlike with Iris' typical teasing or joking about him, the Champion was obviously worried for him. Her eyebrows were scrunched up, and she was staring intently at him. Well, with the one eye that was visible. Ash never knew why the other eye was always concealed, but knew it wasn't the time to ask that.

So he began his story, from the very first day of arriving in Unova. Pikachu had been struck by Zekrom's electricity, and was badly weakened as a result. He got his Pokedex upgraded by Professor Juniper, but met Trip then. Ash had a battle with him, but lost because Pikachu was more injured than expected. Trip acted arrogant about it, and claimed that Ash needed to go back to the basics of Pokemon training.

Ash noted that Cynthia looked displeased upon hearing that part of the tale. It was nice to know that someone had his back.

His talk slowly began to turn into a miniature rant from his pent-up emotions. Iris had constantly argued with him, called him a little kid, and belittled him worse than even Misty at her worst had. She rarely let up on him, and didn't even train her Axew despite its wishes to become a Haxorus. Every time Iris called him a little kid, it enraged him; she was far younger than him and acted as though she were half her age. Why he let her travel with him, he'd never know.

"Half of her Pokemon didn't even respect her for a good chunk of our journey!" he complained. "She couldn't gain an Emolga's respect, and she calls me a kid?!"

Trip was even worse, if that was possible. He was racist, arrogant, boastful, and overly smug about everything. Just because he knew some facts about Pokemon he thought he was the strongest Trainer in the world. His racism against Kanto had no grounds; the only reason Trip seemed to despise other regions was because Ash himself was from Kanto. Whenever he battled, it was with an unbelieveable amount of overconfidence that he would win every time. He even claimed that it would be easy for him to beat Bianca in the Clubsplosion, and just walked away in a huff when he lost.

"I can honestly say that I hate Trip more than I ever hated Paul!" Ash cried. Cynthia's eyes widened in surprise; she had seen for herself the tensions between the two in Sinnoh (which more often than not broke into a battle). "True, Paul was terrible to his Pokemon most of the time and only started complimenting them at the Conference! But at least he had the same amount of experience as me and wasn't arrogant to the point of stupidity!" When he finished speaking, Ash sat back in his chair from loss of energy, but felt glad that he got those weights off his chest.

The Sinnoh Champion was surprised, to say the least. She had always imagined Ash as a happy-go-lucky person who couldn't be seriously angered under any circumstances. But here Cynthia found out that he could hold a grudge, though not without justification.

She noticed that his League travels all had a set pattern, no matter the circumstances. Ash began the Gym challenge with just Pikachu, had a few friends as traveling companions, raised and trained a series of Pokemon (many of whom never even fully evolved), and wound up losing in a high position in the Conference. Oh, and he fought off Team Rocket every other second. Wasn't he getting tired of it all? Why didn't he bring any of his older Pokemon with him? And how was he still sane with all of the Team Rocket encounters? Cynthia had only seen them a few times in Sinnoh and their motto was still stuck in her head.

Ash deserved better than this; he was one of the only Trainers she knew who placed his bond with his Pokemon over winning every match he fought. He had a heart of gold and was flowing with generosity towards others. He'd been attacked, insulted, belittled left and right, and yet he still could see goodness in people everywhere. If he didn't hold a grudge against Paul, his complete antithesis, Cynthia couldn't imagine how anyone else could elicit malice from Ash.

Then again, Paul's interactions with Ash, however many arguments they involved, were nothing if not productive. According to Brock- who had given a surprising amount of information when he wasn't flirting with her-, Ash's Turtwig evolved while battling his Sinnoh rival, and Paul's Torterra even helped with Grotle's battle style. Their drive to beat each other into oblivion resulted in improvement on both sides. Ash began to battle more intelligently and train harder to beat his rival, while Paul started to see the importance of caring for his Pokemon.

Then there was Chimchar… Chimchar was the incarnation of both Trainers' rivalry towards each other, and the cute little Pokemon (now a very powerful force) could be seen as a test of which side had the stronger ideals. Paul had raised him with harsh training and cold words in an effort to bring out the Blaze ability. Ash loved Chimchar and treated him like family, and he was the one who brought control over the rampant ability. As she once said to them, _"When every life meets another life, something will be born."_ Something powerful was born indeed; the drive to prove their own ideals over those of their rival's, and the promotion of healthy growth as people and Trainers.

There was certainly something born in Ash's Unova journey between him and Trip as well; it just might not have been something productive… or pleasant. The chemistry between Ash and Iris didn't look so good, either.

In Kanto, Ash had argued a lot with Misty Waterflower, the youngest of Cerulean's Sensational Sisters. Her goal was to be the next Cerulean Gym Leader, which she achieved seeing as the title was currently in her hands. Back then, her bike had been fried by Ash's Pikachu and she followed him because of it. As time went on, however, she began to forget about her bike and see him as a friend instead of someone who owed her. By the time she came with him to Johto, she was no longer the "annoying brat" to him, and he wasn't a "thoughtless moron" to her; now they were almost as close as real siblings.

Brock had also told her that Ash acted as an older brother figure towards two siblings who had traveled with them in Hoenn, May and Max Maple. He had taught them a lot about Pokemon that they would never have realized without him. May had even once said that she initially took Torchic just so she could travel across the world, because she hated Pokemon. But under Ash's guidance, she found her passion in Contests, and secured a Top Eight position in her first year at the Grand Festival. Most Coordinators trained for years to reach that height of Contest fame; for her to do it after such little time was unheard of. Max was a know-it-all about Pokemon; memorizing facts and preferring them over field experience. While traveling with Ash, he quickly learned that it wasn't facts about battling that made a successful Trainer; it was a mix of actual training, real experience, and the heat of serious battles. When Cynthia heard this, she was very impressed; Ash certainly displayed a lot of maturity in Hoenn.

Back to the issue at hand, though, Ash was very good for his age. Had he trained seriously from the very beginning, perhaps he'd be a formidable opponent for even the Elite Four. Aaron was only sixteen and he was in her circle of Elites, after all. Ash cared for his Pokemon and raised them to the best of his ability… but maybe he wasn't training enough.

Cynthia's eyes widened. That was the answer! His love for his Pokemon couldn't improve any further, but his training could! Ash didn't focus on improving his Pokemon's weak points or other important aspects of raising them. All he focused on was offense, with some specialized all-around techniques inspired from Contests to supplement his style. A hyper-offensive strategy wasn't so bad; Lance was an avid user of it, as well as Flint and Drake. But Ash could do so much more than that- he had a Torterra as well, for crying out loud! Brandon had reported the use of a Squirtle and Bulbasaur; they were excellent defensive pivots when fully evolved as well. Cynthia knew what to do; if anyone deserved it, it was Ash.

"Hey Ash," Cynthia said, quickly getting Ash's undivided attention.

"Yeah, what's up?" he asked.

The Champion took in a deep breath, and began to say, "How would you like to-"

Before Cynthia could complete her sentence, the front wall exploded. Plaster and glass shot out everywhere, and three figures were just visible behind the dust.

The entire store burst into chaos; customers were screaming, the cashier had ducked underneath the desk, and ice creams were left forgotten on tables.

"Duck!" the Champion suddenly snapped, pushing Ash's head down and dropping herself as shards of glass shot out, embedding into the wall by them. The three figures stepped into the store.

When Ash saw them, he growled. Unusual anger flowed through his veins; the same emotion that he experienced only minutes earlier. "Oh, for crying out loud! Every damn time I think I've caught a break from these clowns, they just have to appear and screw it up!" To the team in the dust, he shouted, "What are you doing here?!

Though the front wall of the ice cream store was gone, Cynthia couldn't help but notice that this was the first time Ash swore. But when she saw who the trio was, she understood exactly why he snapped.

"What a question, twerpish indeed!" Jessie declared arrogantly, swinging her arms into the air.

"We'll answer those questions when we feel the need!" James announced, taking a similar stance to his partner. They began to recite their motto for the umpteenth time, much to Ash's annoyance.

Bringing the blinding white light of evil into the future!"

"Thrusting the hammer of justice down onto the black darkness of the universe!"

Carving our names into-" Meowth began.

"Shut up!" Ash roared, shocking the trio into silence. No one had ever interrupted them so violently before, especially not the "twerps". "Nobody cares about ANY of your stupid mottos, so why do you insist on saying them?!"

Jessie scowled and put her hands on her hips. "Excuse me, twerp?! We like our mottos very much! Besides, what are you going to do about it?"

"Yeah!" Meowth sneered. "We're Team Rocket; we do what we wants to! Now hand over dat Pikachu and all yer other Pokemon or else!"

Ash was silent for a moment, which made Cynthia fear that he had lost it. Jessie, James, and Meowth thought that they were finally going to get his Pokemon that they've been hunting for years. They were badly mistaken.

A dark chuckle leaked out from Ash's lips, as a momentarily terrible change overtook him. His eyes narrowed and glimmered with what was almost hatred. Ash's fists clenched and pushed against the table.

"Five years…" he hissed, anger leaking out of his every word. "You've stalked me for five insanely long years! Each and every time you went for my Pokemon, you'd make some sort of stupid machine or devise an idiotic scheme to steal them, which would always fail. And I'm sick of it." Ash's voice gradually displayed the fury built up over five years that was finally set free. "Yet every time I blew up your machines or hot-air-balloons, you'd always come back with some other stupid idea just to keep going at me! I've had it! Get out of my life or I will really make you regret it!"

"Then just give us your Pokemon and we'll do that!" James said simply, as though it was obvious. "Isn't that a solution?"

Before Ash could explode again, Cynthia raised up an arm. "Allow me to handle these crooks," she muttered. To Team Rocket, she shouted, "Do you really expect this poor show of intimidation to work on us? And do you know who you're messing with?"

"The question is, do you?" Jessie retorted. She was angered that they weren't scared by the exploding wall, and decided to fix that. "We're Team Rocket; the strongest criminal team in the world! We steal Pokemon, make money off of them-"

Cynthia decided that she had had enough, and plucked a Pokeball from her belt. "Garchomp, battle dance!"

The trio shook in fright as the Champion's most feared Pokemon materialized in front of them. Garchomp was a dark blue bipedal Dragon, with fearsome claws for hands and a gold star on its snout. Twin horns that resembled engines showed off the speeds it was capable of. Two fins were on the arms, one was one the back, and one was at the end of the tail. She was clearly female; the dorsal fin did not have the cut that males did.

When the Pseudo-Legendary saw the crooks, she roared at the top of her lungs. The trio was actually pushed back by the sound alone, indicating how powerful Garchomp was.

Surprisingly, they weren't particularly fazed. Jessie was the first to speak. "We'll crush that oversized lizard of yours and take it for the boss! Woobat, use Air Slash, and Frillish, use Bubblebeam!"

She tossed the Pokeballs and revealed the two Unovan Pokemon. Woobat flew into the air and flapped its wings, generating discs of wind that shot at Garchomp. Frillish hovered and wiggled silently, before spitting out a steady stream of bubbles.

"Amoonguss, Energy Ball!" James shouted as he threw his pair of capsules. "Yamask, Shadow Ball!"

James' only non-overwhelmingly friendly Grass-type landed first; it brought its caps together and formed a green ball of pure energy that was launched at its opponent. Yamask did the same, but with a mass of dark purple energy.

Garchomp didn't even bother to dodge as the attacks landed head-on, kicking up even more dust in the process. Everyone in the store shielded their faces as the cloud billowed out towards them.

Meowth sneered as he saw the blows collide. "See, twoips? Dat Garchomp ain't gettin' up from dos attacks! Now then, hand over-" His grin melted into a grimace as a figure became visible from the impact site.

The cornerstone of a Champion's team had shrugged off the attacks like they were Swanna feathers; the only implication of any marginal damage was the baring of long, honed teeth and narrowing eyes.

Cynthia gave a smirk of her own as she issued the decisive command to put an end to the show in front of her. "Garchomp, Dragon Rush."

Her words, at first appearance, held none of the venom they implied. If one listened closely, they could hear the acidic distaste for the criminals and irritation at the rude and explosive interruption, topped off with sympathy for the young Trainer beside her. It was at this moment that, for the first time, the trio from Team Rocket felt that they messed up very badly.

"Oh, boy!" Meowth groaned, backing away slightly. "We screwed dis up read bad!" Amoonguss gurgled unhappily and Frillish shivered. Yamask still showed as little emotion as ever, though it was probably scared for its half-life.

Jessie and James only had time to nod as Garchomp lunged forward. Her body was coated in a brilliant blue shell of energy, a comet-tail of it streaming from behind. Dragon Rush was powerful, but at long distances had a tendency to miss because of the speed and resulting lack of control. At this range, however, it would be overwhelmingly simple to land the attack.

This blast-off for the trio wasn't like the others; they had no time to reflect on their mistakes and make comments about them in midair. Above all else, Ash couldn't even hear them shout their typical "blasting off" nonsense; a considerable relief to his ears.

Cynthia sighed in relief as she looked towards the hole in the wall and saw the lack of Rockets. Her gaze drifted to the rest of the ruined store and noted something out of place. There was no one left inside! The Champion supposed that while she and Ash had nothing to fear from the criminals, the general public would panic at the mere mention of the infamous organization. They probably fled and called the police, which explained the faint sirens her ears barely made out.

Garchomp flipped in midair and landed with a bored growl. She wasn't entertained in the least with the "battle, which was understandable because of the raging brawls to the finish all of Cynthia's Pokemon were used to.

The Champion rubbed her starter's back soothingly, eliciting a low purr from Garchomp. "Good job," she said quietly, recalling her to the red-and-white capsule in her hand. She turned to Ash, who had a satisfied grin on his face.

"Thanks for that," he commented. "I doubt they'll mess with anyone after that!"

"I certainly hope so," she muttered. Cynthia raised her voice to a normal speaking level as she said the words that would change Ash's life irrevocably.

"How would you like to train with me?"

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

Was he dreaming? Because if he was, it was a really good dream.

Training with a Champion? And not just any Champion, but the legendary Cynthia herself? The idea was mind-boggling; thousands of Trainers aimed to be tutored by the guardians of the regions, but none of them ever succeeded. And now here he was with a direct invitation for such a valuable experience? What did he do to earn that privilege?

A grin split across his face. "That sounds amazing! I'm honored!" His joyful expression fell slightly. "But… what did I do to deserve it? I've never won any of the Leagues, and I'm nowhere near the best-"

Cynthia stopped his words with a finger on his lips. "Enough of that," she said soothingly. "I've seen many Trainers throughout my long career as a League Champion. Many of them were powerful indeed, enough to give me a real challenge in battle. Others had the same burning spirit as you to succeed. But there's one thing that makes you stand out far above all of the others."

"What is it?" asked Ash.

"You won't believe me, but it's the incredible bond that you share with all of your Pokemon." _And that fact that you've saved the world several times now, but that's a little irrelevant._

As the blonde Trainer expected, Ash raised his eyes in disbelief. It was sad to admit it, but the truth was the truth; too many people didn't care enough about the wonderful beings who fight tooth and nail for their Trainers' honor. Some people just wanted to win every battle they fought, and screamed at their Pokemon to fight to their last breath. Others, like Paul had once been, just wanted power and would stop at nothing to get it. But he was one of the few she expected to change for the better, mostly because of Ash's interactions and influence over him. It happened, too; Cynthia definitely saw the purple-haired Trainer get onto one knee to look his defeated Electivire in the face and thank it for all of its hard work against Infernape. Reggie had also reported his gradually changing attitude before the Sinnoh Conference as well.

There was one particularly foul "person"- he barely registered as a human being in her eyes- she encountered while taking a vacation to Kanto. His name was Damien, and he was the absolute opposite of what the ideal Trainer should be like. Damien didn't train his Pokemon properly, he fed them the bare minimum of food to stave off starvation, and he treated them like broken tools; constantly shouting at them to keep fighting despite their weakened states, and releasing them if they ever failed him.

"B-but don't a lot of people care about their Pokemon?" Ash stammered. The thought that he stood out to the Champion just because he cared for his friends and teammates bewildered him. "I mean, don't they deserve just as much respect as what we would give to each other, if not even more? Heck, our society revolves around Pokemon! They battle for us, show off Contest moves, keep us company, help treat sick and injured people and other Pokemon alike, and so much more! People should appreciate that!" His voice gradually rose with emotion as he spoke. "I do, you do, Misty and Brock do, May and Dawn do! Heck, even Paul started doing so! If he can see the importance of loving his Pokemon, then can't everyone else?!"

_This is exactly what makes me want to train him, _she thought. His fiery passion towards all Pokemon kept him shining bright in her gaze. True, he didn't train particularly hard or win any of the regional Conferences. But despite staying away from their Trainer for extended periods of time, Ash's Pokemon would all sacrifice their lives for him without a moment of hesitation.

On another note, Ash has a mighty Charizard at his disposal; raised from near the very beginning of his journey. He could have just kept it on him constantly and probably have won one of the region's grand tournaments by now. But Charizard, according to Brock yet again (she was honestly surprised by the length of time he could go without flirting), wanted to train in the Charcific Valley to improve its fighting skills. Had Ash only cared about winning, he would have taken his powerful Fire-type with him. Charizard wouldn't have held it against Ash; it was too loyal to him. But the Trainer understood that the needs of his Pokemon overtook his shallow desires, and allowed his teammate to pursue his dream.

The Champion's long hair swayed from side to side as she shook her head. "Believe me, I wish that was true. Yes, there are many who care for their Pokemon. But your love surpasses anyone's I've seen by miles."

"As you know, a Pokemon Trainer needs compassion for and from their teammates to fight. It's why traded Pokemon are so difficult to control; they don't respect or care for the people they're sent to. What you share with your Pokemon gives them strength and spirit beyond what other Trainers of your same caliber can claim. Not many Electric-types can claim to wield such skill in using a technique like the Counter-Shield as your Pikachu. Your Gible knows how to use Draco Meteor; for a Dragon-type to be able to use it at all, they need to have absolute trust in their Trainer. My own Garchomp took almost a whole year to be able to wield the attack. Face it, Ash; you're the only one I wish to pass on my secrets to, and I hope you accept my invitation."

At that point, there was no room for argument. Cynthia had shown him exactly what made him stand out, and he was more than honored. There was only one thing left to say.

"Thank you, Cynthia. I accept your offer, and I'll do my best!

_**A/N: This chapter feels a little short (half the words of my first chapter of "Conquering the Dark Past"), but it's really just a prologue of sorts. On that note, sorry if it's a bit rushed. But I had to get the writer's block out of the way for this chapter so I could post it already.**_

_** For those of you who notice that Ash didn't get his Pokemon back from the Center yet, don't flip out in the reviews. He'll get them all back before he leaves.**_

_** I know the idea of Cynthia training Ash is overdone, but I wanted to do one in detail for myself. (Miracle of the day: Ash isn't betrayed in this story!)**_

_** You know the drill; read, review, and I'll see you next time! (VERY Late Happy New Year, by the way!)**_

_**~Red Aura Guard, signing out.**_


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